The Guardian’s latest extensive contribution to the Israel-Palestine debate is notable for its concluding paragraphs, which raise the spectre of Israeli einsatzgruppen, responsible for securing Israel by the repeated killing of Palestinian 'animals'. This dreadful prospect is referenced to an Israeli demographer, Arnon Soffer in the Jerusalem Post. Soffer’s words are terrible enough, but they are made far worse by the way in which they are ripped from the surrounding context of the original interview in which they were given.

Having spent two days in the Guardian’s G2 supplement section drawing parallels between Israel and apartheid South Africa, their correspondent Chris McGreal concludes with the chilling warning that Israel may yet turn into Nazi Germany. McGreal isn’t crass enough to actually use the words “Nazi Germany”. Instead, he invites the reader to draw their own shocking conclusions from the ending to his lengthy articles:

Or perhaps the conflict will evolve into something worse; something that will produce parallels even more shocking than that with apartheid.

Arnon Soffer has spent years advising the government on the "demographic threat" posed by the Arabs. The Haifa university geographer paints a bleak vision of how he sees the Gaza strip a generation after Israel's withdrawal.

"When 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It's going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day," he told the Jerusalem Post.

"If we don't kill, we will cease to exist. The only thing that concerns me is how to ensure that the boys and men who are going to have to do the killing will be able to return home to their families and be normal human beings."

Reading the original Jerusalem Post interview reveals how important the Guardian’s omission of context is to Soffer’s words. The interview actually occurred on 10 May, 2004, and was based on Soffer’s (thus far mistaken) fears of what would happen the day after Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. Ironically, it can be read in full by scrolling down to the section entitled Zionism for Carnivores on the website of the “Stop the Wall” campaign.

Firstly, the opening paragraphs that the Guardian omitted:

Ruthie Blum: How will the region look the day after unilateral separation?

Arnon Soffer: The Palestinians will bombard us with artillery fire--and we will have to retaliate. But at least the war will be at the fence--not in kindergartens in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

RB: Will Israel be prepared to fight this war?

AS: First of all, the fence is not built like the Berlin Wall. It's a fence that we will be guarding on either side. Instead of entering Gaza, the way we did last week, we will tell the Palestinians that if a single missile is fired over the fence, we will fire 10 in response. And women and children will be killed, and houses will be destroyed. After the fifth such incident, Palestinian mothers won't allow their husbands to shoot Kassams, because they will know what's waiting for them.

Second of all, [This is the where the Guardian quote begins] when 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It's going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.

RB: While CNN has its cameras at the wall?

AS: If we don't kill, we will cease to exist. The only thing that concerns me is how to ensure that the boys and men who are going to have to do the killing will be able to return home to their families and be normal human beings.

[The rest is omitted from the Guardian quote]

RB: What will the end result of all this killing be?

AS: The Palestinians will be forced to realize that demography is no longer significant, because we're here and they're there. And then they will begin to ask for "conflict management" talks--not that dirty word "peace." Peace is a word for believers, and I have no tolerance for believers--neither those who wear yarmulkes nor those who pray to the God of peace. [] Both are dangerous.

Unilateral separation doesn't guarantee "peace"--it guarantees a Zionist-Jewish state with an overwhelming majority of Jews; it guarantees the kind of safety that will return tourists to the country; and it guarantees one other important thing. Between 1948 and 1967, the fence was a fence, and 400,000 people left the West Bank voluntarily. This is what will happen after separation. If a Palestinian cannot come into Tel Aviv for work, he will look in Iraq, or Kuwait, or London. I believe that there will be movement out of the area.

Readers wishing to examine McGreal’s warning in its full context should click here. If anyone wishes to scrutinise his other references, then good luck to them.

Mark Gardner